Subscription Lists

We come to a passage this week which is familiar to many – Luke Chapter 15 and verses 11 to 32. We have been reading some of the amazing things Jesus taught. What Jesus said on - hypocrisy - fear - greed – and worry. These are huge relevant themes, and so relevant to many today. These can cripple people.

We then read of being ready for that day when Jesus comes again - when He returns.

We read of those catastrophes in Jerusalem when people died, and Jesus calls those around Him to repent, and sort out their lives.

Then, Jesus healed that crippled woman who had been bent and twisted for 18 long years. Some religious people were displeased because Jesus healed her on the Sabbath. Jesus goes on to speak about how He so wanted to gather everyone in Jerusalem under His protective wing. Some very hard sayings follow, and then we have this parable in Chapter 15. People had come to hear Jesus, even after all these hard sayings.

There is a lost sheep outside, and a lost coin inside. Jesus is teaching that He had come to find those were lost and who are lost. This has to be a slightly longer study, because I cannot divide it and it ought not to be divided.

Today we come to the parable about the two sons and the father. In one sense we are so familiar with these verses that many have missed the whole point. It is so well known and so frequently quoted and referred to, that what Jesus was teaching can be lost, and often is lost.

This is not the Gospel. There is no cross here. There is no resurrection.

When Jesus spoke these words, who was present? The sinners who came to hear Him and the religious leaders who came to comment, murmur, mutter, analyse and criticise. Luke Chapter 15 is only one parable - not three - a lost sheep lost on the outside - a lost coin which was lost on the inside - and two lost sons - one lost outside, and the other inside, yet lost.

One was in the far country, lost, and the other was at home, lost! You can be out there and lost, and most are, and you can be inside the father's house and still be lost.

A man had two sons, and the younger said, "Give me - give me what is mine - and give me it now. I want it now. I must get. I must grab and go."

The person who says "Give me", usually has to come to learn to say, "Forgive me".

This young man had to learn that life does not begin by getting one's own way, and demanding one's own rights.

Now, his father gave him what he asked for, and let him go. There is no arguing and no persuading. It takes a big father who will allow his son to go and ruin himself.

If this parable had not come from the lips of Jesus Christ, we might even question its value and worth and reliability! A few days later, the younger son left home. He wanted freedom and fun. He wanted to live it up. He despised all the privileges of his father's house, and for a while he forgot about his father, but his father never forgot about him.

This young man soon wasted all his wealth. He squandered all the money. He blew the lot, and he had nothing to show for it, except regrets.

In the end of the day what will we have to show for all the Father has given us?

There was a famine in the land. A crisis arose and he had not expected a crisis to arise. He began to be in want. He began to be in need. Rebellion against the father does not lead to life but to the opposite. Rebellion leads to sadness, depression, humiliation, destruction. He took a job feeding pigs. Now, for a Jew this was the lowest of the low - sheer humiliation. He became so hungry he could have eaten the pigswill.

He was lonely - isolated - so out of things - so much on his own. When he left home, he never intended ending up in this mess - few ever do, who run away or rebel.

He came to himself. Sometimes God has to allow us to get so low before we can rise. He begins to think of what he is missing and thought of the blessings in his father's house. Then, he saw his own predicament. Now and again, we have to let rebellious people go. The father knows what he is doing.

This young man turned his thoughts into action - verse 18. I will arise and return. There was to be honest repentance and open confession of sin.

Like this young man we often do not realise how much the Father loves us.

His father was watching - waiting - every day. "Will he ever return?"

One day, away down the road, his father saw him, and moved with compassion he runs to his boy, who must have been a rather pathetic sight, and threw his arms around his neck, and hugged him and kissed him. Such love almost embarrasses us!

Verse 21. The son tries to blurt it out, and the father interrupts, "Servant, bring the best robe - put it on him - and he puts on his finger a ring - and new sandals for his feet.

There is no row - no saying, "Now promise you won't do that again." There is no, "Think of all the trouble you caused me." The father is so unselfish, and in verse 23, there is a party - and what a party. "This son of mine was dead and he is alive again. He was lost and is found." A party - rejoicing - food - fun - security - clothes.

Wasn't this what the boy had gone off into the far country to find? Some do think, “If you want the good life, get as far away from God the Father, and Jesus Christ and the Church, and the Bible as you can - as far as you can!”

No - if you want the good life - this is where to get it – here, this morning, under the Father's roof - with Jesus and His Word and His people.

Do you see who the happiest person was that day? THE FATHER. His son who was as good as dead was alive again. He had been lost and now is found.

How many of us would want the parable to end there? This parable which Jesus told does NOT have a happy ending. The elder son, his big brother, who had been hard working, and in a sense, loyal and faithful, comes in from the field, and realised that a party is in full flow. He asks one of the servants what was going on, "I was not informed that there was going to be a party." O, he is very bitter.

The reason for the party is explained. Then, he becomes touchy, angry and furious. "I am NOT going in there." His father comes out to him as he came out to the younger son pleaded with him to come in.

The older son is so full of RESENTMENT. “You never gave me a party. You never made a fuss over me. I've been loyal and faithful while he's been away squandering your money on prostitutes. O, how did he know? How did he know what his brother had been up to?

He had served, but had been so unsatisfied. He had been in the father's house, but it had all been so dull and boring and such a drag. He asked for nothing - got nothing and enjoyed nothing - and he becomes jealous of his younger brother.

Verse 31. My son - the father is so tender and understanding - you have nothing to lose by coming in - you are always with me - everything I have is yours - we had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is now found. He was away out there and now he has come home.

Did the two brothers ever make it up? I don't think so. When we move from the parable to the actual setting, we see the sinners who have come to hear Jesus, and there are the Pharisees who had come along to analyse, comment, criticise and mutter. There is Jesus with these two groups. What happened when the parable had been told?

If the younger brother is the sinners whom Jesus came to find, and if the father in this parable is Jesus - then what happened is this - the older brother, the hard hearted religious leaders, glowered at Jesus Christ and said, "I'll kill you for this!" And they did. What a parable.

"'Winging It" from Stan Smith

Moralism